'Moment of silence' mandated in Illinois schools

[Soldier4Christ]

Illinois governor nixes 'moment of silence' bill for students

An attorney for a pro-family group says it's outrageous that the governor of Illinois vetoed a measure that would have required public school students to observe a "moment of silence" at the beginning of each school day.



Even though the bill does not mention prayer and simply talks about a "moment of silence," Governor Rod Blagojevich vetoed it, citing concerns about the alleged "separation of church and state." Matt Barber, policy director with Concerned Women for America, says if a lie is kept alive long enough, people will buy into it.

"Governor Blagojevich is helping to perpetuate this separation of church and state myth," says the attorney. "[H]e's ignoring jurisprudence; he's ignoring Supreme Court precedents to do so. He's totally off-base here legally -- he has no legal ground. He's using pseudo-legalese in order to really push his own ideological agenda, which is a secular humanist agenda," says Barber.

The measure had passed overwhelmingly in both the Illinois House and Senate, but during debate had been criticized for potentially taking away from learning time or coercing religious activity. Associated Press notes that the primary House sponsor, a Democrat, countered by pointing out that both state legislative chambers begin with prayer led by members of the clergy.

Barber points out that the moment of silence could allow a student to think about most anything, and calling it prayer is a real stretch.

[Soldier4Christ]

'Moment of silence' mandated in Illinois schools
Students will be allowed to silently pray in whatever faith they practice or sit quietly

State lawmakers thrust Illinois into the center of the national debate on school prayer today as the House approved legislation to require public schools to provide students with a moment of silence at the start of classes.

Students from kindergarten through high school will be allowed to silently pray in whatever faith they practice or simply sit and reflect quietly. Illinois teachers and students have had the option of doing so since 2002, but it wasn't mandated.

The Illinois House voted to override Gov. Rod Blagojevich's late August veto of the silent-moment measure. The governor cited concerns about the separation of church and state.

"The law in Illinois today already allows teachers and students the opportunity to take a moment for silent thought or prayer, if they chose to," Blagojevich wrote. "I believe this is the right balance between the principles echoed in our constitution, and our deeply held desire to practice our faith. As a parent, I am working with my wife to raise our children to respect prayer and to pray because they want to pray—not because they are required to."

But the Senate moved to overturn the governor's veto last week by a wide margin, and the House did the same today.

The sponsor, Rep. William Davis (D-East Hazel Crest), had to retain 71 of the 86 House members who approved the legislation earlier this year to override Blagojevich. Davis got 74 votes after a short debate.

Rep. Monique Davis (D-Chicago) told her colleagues there is a place for a brief period of silence in students' lives, given how they are "bombarded" by noise and information all day.

"They come to school listening to their iPods," Monique Davis said. "To just have a moment in a child's life where he or she can be guaranteed a moment of silence, we don't want to give them that?"

Rep. Lou Lang (D-Skokie), who is often at odds with the governor, said he supported Blagojevich's veto because the legislation is really about prayer in schools. "Why we must mandate this is way beyond me," Lang said. "It's wrong from so many points of view."

The moment of silence is supposed to take effect when the measure becomes law. But it may take some time for school districts to get notification and come up with a way to implement the requirement.

That also assumes that no civil liberties group challenges the law in court, as has happened in other states like Virginia. The moment-of-silence law there was upheld by a federal appeals court, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the ruling, according to newspaper accounts.

Carpentersville-based District 300 Supt. Kenneth Arndt said sometimes when government mandates something, it diminishes the value of it. Besides that, he felt the legislation was a "non-issue," especially at the high schools.

"I was just at a high school this morning and I felt sorry for the first-period teachers trying to get these kids to wake up," Arndt said, chuckling. "When was the last time these legislators visited any schools?"

Since the Supreme Court struck down mandatory school prayer in 1962, about three dozen states have passed legislation authorizing school districts to set aside up to five minutes for silent meditation or time to pray.

A movement to push for variations of the moment of silence law has been growing for about three decades.

"Since then, some states have been moving to what they call a neutral moment of silence," said Rob Boston, spokesman for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a watchdog group in Washington, D.C. "They don't mandate the moment be used for prayer. And the trend has been for the courts to uphold those. We don't like them, but generally speaking the courts are more receptive to that idea."

[BHarper]

It is a step in the right direction but I am not impressed with it.  The whole point of removing school prayer was to silence Christians in the classroom and this " moment of silence " does nothing really to change that.  The remedy I would favor would be to allow all students and teachers who want to pray to meet in the school auditorium before classes where prayers could be said aloud and publicly.  Those who do not want to pray would not be required to attend and can go directly to their classrooms and study until the other students come to class.  To me that would be a reasonable and a fair solution to this controversy.  I don't think that Madalyn Murray O'Hair would have been offended all that much by a "moment of silence."  It was audible prayer she detested.

" Well, if they keep us from going to Russia where there is some freedom, we'll just have to change America.  I'll make sure you never say another prayer in that school! "

- Madalyn Murray O'Hair, as recounted by her son William Murray

Source:  My Life Without God, by William J. Murray, Harvest House Publishers; Eugene, Oregon, 1992, p.56 (new expanded edition)

[Soldier4Christ]

I agree with you completely although I do not see it being allowed to have a group prayer anywhere before school starts. After all that would be making some students feel excluded, even though it would be their own choice to be excluded. Then cair would demand a space and time for muslims to have their 5 prayers a day. After all it is better to offend Christians than it is to offend non-Christians. We are in troubled times and I am sure that it will only get worse.

[Soldier4Christ]

Atheist family challenges Illinois "moment of silence" law

A 14-year-old girl and her outspoken atheist father filed a federal lawsuit Friday challenging a new Illinois law requiring a brief period of prayer or reflective silence at the start of every school day.

The lawsuit asks the court to declare the law unconstitutional, said attorney Gregory Kulis, who represents Dawn Sherman, a freshman at Buffalo Grove High School, and her father Robert Sherman, a radio talk show host.

Kulis said the law is an attempt to inject religion into public schools in violation of the First Amendment. The suit also seeks a temporary restraining order to halt schools' obeying the law until the case is decided. A judge will consider that request at a hearing Monday.

The lawsuit names Gov. Rod Blagojevich and officials of Township High School District 214 as defendants. School district spokeswoman Venetia Miles said schools will continue to comply with the law.

Blagojevich spokesman Abby Ottenhoff said the law was passed over the governor's veto.

"We don't believe requiring time for reflection is the role of government," Ottenhoff said.

Sherman said he went to court after he asked the school board to ignore the law and was rebuffed. The school district informed him it would carry out the moment of silence during third period, beginning Tuesday, the lawsuit said.

"What we object to is Christians passing a law that requires the public school teacher to stop teaching during instructional time, paid for by the taxpayers, so that Christians can pray," Sherman told The Associated Press.

An Illinois law called the Silent Reflection and Student Prayer Act already allowed schools to observe a moment of silence if they wanted. A new measure changed just a single word: "may" observe became "shall" observe.

The Illinois law originally passed during the spring legislative session, but Blagojevich vetoed it, saying he had doubts about its constitutionality. Lawmakers overrode the veto this month.

It's not Sherman's first church-and-state lawsuit and not the first to involve his children. He has sought removal of religious symbols from city seals and a ban on Boy Scout meetings at public schools.

Some school administrators have complained the law is too ill-defined and puts many teachers and some students in an awkward position.

The Shermans may have legitimate concerns, but they are suing the wrong party when they target the school district, said Brian McCarthy, an attorney for the district.

"The General Assembly - for better, worse, foolish or wise - passed this law and it's not up to school districts to pick and choose which laws they follow," McCarthy said. "He needs to go after the entity that enforces that law."

[Soldier4Christ]

Judge allows moment of silence in schools for now

A federal judge has refused to stop Illinois schools from observing a moment of prayer or reflective silence for students, but he's allowing a lawsuit against it to move forward.

The suit by talk radio host Rob Sherman and his 14-year-old daughter maintains that the law requiring a moment of silence unconstitutionally injects prayer into government schools.

School district representatives told the judge that they would enforce the law in a neutral fashion with a 15-second moment of silence that makes no reference to religion.

Judge Robert Gettleman told both sides to return to court on November 14th.

Sherman is an outspoken atheist who has gone to court before in an effort to get religious symbols out of the public sphere.

[Littleboy]

That's onething i loved about a small town we lived inTx.
Even on the school lunch calander Sunday was marked "Church"....

[Soldier4Christ]

Judge blocks IL Moment of Silence law

CHICAGO (AP) - A federal judge has issued a preliminary injunction blocking an Illinois school district from enforcing a new state law requiring a moment of silence. The judge says the statute is "likely unconstitutional" and vague.

Judge Robert Gettleman issued the injunction after atheist talk-radio host Rob Sherman filed a lawsuit against a suburban Chicago school district.

Sherman claims the new law unconstitutionally seeks to inject religion into government schools.

Backers of the law say it does nothing of the kind- it merely calls for a moment of "silent reflection" at the beginning of each school day- and does not mandate prayer.

His attorney asked the judge to extend the injunction to the rest of the state, and Gettleman said he wanted to think about the decision overnight.

[Soldier4Christ]

What is unconstitutional is the actions of this judge.